NY Times: Globe unions have until next Friday

Boston Globe parent New York Times Co reaffirmed its demand that the beleaguered Hub broadsheet’s unions make $20 million in concessions by next Friday - or face possible shutdown.

Jerry Kronenberg

NEW YORK - Boston Globe parent New York Times Co. reaffirmed its demand that the beleaguered Hub broadsheet’s unions make $20 million in concessions by next Friday - or face possible shutdown.

“(Union leaders) know that’s the date that we need them to get back to us regarding (give-backs),” Times Co. CEO Janet Robinson told reporters yesterday at the company’s annual shareholders meeting in New York.

Times Co., which confirmed yesterday that it expects the Globe and Boston.com to lose $85 million this year, has threatened to close the 137-year-old paper unless unions grant concessions by May 1.

Talks over possible give-backs opened last week, but face major hurdles.

For instance, the Globe’s largest union is balking at demands to allow layoffs that ignore seniority. The Boston Newspaper Guild is also staunchly defending “lifetime job guarantees” that hundreds of staffers, including union president Dan Totten, now enjoy, but that the Times Co. wants to eliminate.

The union plans to hold a “Save the Globe” rally today at Faneuil Hall.